In today’s world, the gravest assault on democracy no longer comes through ballot-box stuffing or the menacing presence of armoured vehicles. It arrives silently on our smartphones, where a hyper-realistic, AI-generated video can shake a voter’s trust within seconds. Bangladesh’s 13th parliamentary election date was announced on 12 December. With the national polls approaching, the country now finds itself facing an invisible, algorithm-driven “uprising”.

In several recent elections around the world, we have witnessed the deliberate and systematic spread of deepfakes. Voice cloning has become commonplace. Videos are produced showing opposition leaders apparently making bizarre or extreme statements. AI-generated news anchors have been used to broadcast false information. On the eve of polling day, fake announcements have circulated on social media claiming that a candidate has withdrawn from the race.

These are neither jokes nor spontaneous falsehoods; they are coordinated and calculated digital attacks designed to force voters to distrust their own eyes and ears. As a result, the old belief that “seeing is believing” has collapsed, replaced by a new reality: “seeing means suspecting”.